Romans 9:11–23

¹¹Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, ¹²not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^{d 13}So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^e

¹⁴What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! ¹⁵For He says to Moses:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^f

¹⁶So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{g 18}Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy , and He hardens whom He wants to harden .

¹⁹One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” ²⁰But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”^{h 21}Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?

²²What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? ²³What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory —